Justin Gray tallied 19 points for the 12th-seeded Demon Deacons (17-15), who
trumped Florida State, 78-66, in the opening round of the tourney and have now
won three consecutive games.

Chris Ellis added 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting for Wake Forest, which will now
move on to face top-seeded Duke in the semifinals on Saturday.

Gavin Grant recorded a career-high 24 points for the fourth-seeded Wolfpack
(21-9), who also lost to the Demon Deacons in their regular season finale last
week and have now dropped four straight. Cameron Bennerman added 23 points in
the loss.

Down 8-5 early, Wake Forest took control of the game with a 20-2 flurry in the
first half. Ellis fueled the burst by getting loose inside for a slam and
Cameron Stanley capped it with a dunk of his own to make the score 25-10 with
6 1/2 minutes left.

The Demon Deacons extended their advantage to 17, 37-20, at intermission.

The second half was no different as Wake Forest continued to dominate.
Williams’ lay-in about two minutes into the stanza gave the Demon Deacons
their first 20-point cushion, 44-23.

Less than 30 seconds later, Williams buried a jumper to give Wake Forest its
largest lead of the game, 46-23.

From there, the Deacons held NC State at arm’s length and the Wolfpack never
seriously threatened the rest of the way.

Bennerman’s dunk with less than three minutes on the clock made the score
70-58 but Wake Forest responded by scoring seven of the game’s next nine
points to make it 77-60 with 1:47 remaining.

Game Notes

NC State still leads the all-time series 127-96…The Wolfpack owns a 58-43
ACC Tournament record and have won this event 10 times but they have failed to
come out on top since 1987…Wake Forest shot 54 percent from the field and
dominated from the charity stripe. The Demon Deacons made 24-of-33 from the
line while the Wolfpack was just 5-of-7.